Entries Tagged 'travelling' ↓

Leaving Audierne we continued driving North, as our goal was to reach the “pink” coast near Perros-Guirec.
The best part of the day was in the morning, as we arrived quite early at Pointe du Raz, a promontory accessible only walking (we had to park our car and pay an entrance ticket) which is a gorgeous view on the Atlantic Ocean, with its crashing waves on the wild rocks, the Island of Sein, seagulls flying all around and beautiful heath flowers everywhere. It was rainy and windy when we arrived, then the sun shined and showed us this landscape in its magnificent colours. This was for us Brittany as we had always imagined!

To reach Perros-Guirec in the northern part of Brittany we made a long ride through beautiful landscapes and villages, actually almost every village would be worth a stop, especially because of their delightful and very mystical churches, the accurate gardens and colourful flowers, the nice houses. In the tiny village of Quemeneven we stopped to eat our delicious baguette with ham, bought in a boulangerie in the morning. Unfortunately the weather was quite cold and windy and also when we finally reached the northern coast with its magnificent beaches and the pink granite rocks, we were not able to fully enjoy it. We still needed to find a place to sleep, many hotels where full, there were so many people everywhere…
At the end we found a room at Château de Kermezen, an ancient castle of the 17th century, where the count and the countess themselves welcomed us. It was a typical situation of “past glory”… People that in the past centuries ad been served were now serving breakfast to strangers that rented a room in their house. This is very common in France and it’s a way to allow these people to remain in their family mansion, and for us to enjoy a night in a fabulous place! In fact this castle was full of charme, but the interior was quite decadent and the room was not really “noble” and had an incredibly small bed… But it was a unique experience anyway!

At night we had dinner in Paimpol, a nice village on the seaside, famous for the cultivation of oysters. In a small restaurant in front of the harbour we first had a fish soup to warm us up and then I ordered a dozen of oysters, while Manu preferred a grilled fish.

Holiday in France

We left the Forest of Broceliande on August 18th in the direction of Vannes, our first destination along the Brittany coast.
We were very curious to finally reach the Atlantic Ocean, because so many friends had described the coast in Bretagne as one of the most beautiful places they had ever seen. That’s why we decided to start our visit from Vannes in the South East and to drive North along the coast.
To tell you the truth in the beginning we were almost disappointed, because we had imagined to find a road along the Ocean, or at least, to arrive in front of it. But that’s not the case in a large part of Bretagne, and afterwards we thought that this is something that really helped preserve their landscape, that is still so wild. Even most of the towns and the villages are not really on the seafront, but are built in bays or creeks, so an open view of the Ocean is only in some places.
Southern Bretagne is also quite industrialized, but the territory is well preserved as industries are only limited to certain parts, without affecting the landscape or the ancient villages or towns.
We visited Vannes, Quimperlé, Pont Aven (delightful small harbour where the painter Gaugain used to stay), Port Manech, a small village on a beautiful bay and then Concarneau. This last is a very famous town, because of its medieval Ville Close, a walled town on an island, which we could have appreciated if there hadn’t been an incredible crowd of tourists that made us run away very quickly.
At a certain moment in the afternoon we realized that it was time to look for a place to sleep, as we had no reservation. Manu had the right intuition to continue driving North, trying to reach a place out of the touristic sites. We realized only afterwards that we had arrived in Cornouaille in the South-West of Brittany. The landscapes were getting so beautiful and wild and this impression was also enforced by the weather that was turning windy and cloudy.
We found a beautiful room at the charming Hotel Le Goyen, with a wonderful view on the harbour and the bay of Audierne.

After checking in, we made a walk on the peer and remained so fascinated by the force of the waves and the wildness of the ocean, really spectacular!

We went for dinner in a small fish restaurant and ordered an impressive “plateau de fruits de mer”, the typical seafood menu of Bretagne, that we enjoyed together with a bottle of Muscadet white wine.

Holiday in France

We had chosen to stay for one night in the Forest of Broceliande, because it was on the way to the coast, just between Rennes and Vannes.
Before leaving we had read about the celtic legends of Merlin and King Arthur that apparently originate from real facts happened in this region centuries ago. This added a lot of excitement to this destination…
And we have to say, the place really met our expectations! This is an enchanting forest where you imagine fays and elves hiding behind the trees, Merlin appearing on the lake, King Arthur living in one of the castles…
We had booked a room in Aux Berges de Broceliande a small family hotel in the tiny village of Beignon. Although simple and not expensive, this was one of the best rooms of our trip: newly renovated with pleasant colours, a warm wooden floor, decorated in a kind of new age style, very clean and silent, with view on the church, absolutely perfect!
We drove through the woods, meeting only few cars and sometimes suddenly arriving to a small lake or a castle, just fabulous….
We had dinner in Restaurant Les Forges, “forge” means foundry, because that place was once a foundry, but don’t think about a dirty and obscure place! The traditionally decorated dining room had big windows overlooking a lake and a castle… Using the word “magic” to describe it, is maybe obvious, but suitable. Also because food and wine were delicious.

Let me spend a few words regarding eating in France: what we experienced and also recommend, is to take a whole menu when you go to a restaurant for a complete lunch or dinner. This is much cheaper than taking single courses à la carte. Also, usually every restaurant proposes a selection of different menus at different prices and for every menu you can choose among more courses. In this way we had the possibility to taste many different specialities taking also a good bottle of wine!

Holiday in France

From Bourgogne, passing through Champagne and finally in Bretagne. France is a big country of Europe and it has different regions with different cultures, traditions and landscapes. First, the Bourgogne, at the beginning of our trip, so elegant and charming. Than, the Champagne region was bigger than Bourgogne and the atmosphere was less typical. I know, that region is more industrialized. At the end we reached Bretagne. A place where the time seems stopped. While we were reaching Rennes, the vegetation, the atmosphere and the houses started to change. We immediately felt a special atmosphere about this mystic, romantic and quiet region.

Holiday in France